Marriage Equality Bunnies (Free Pattern)

Today, Amiguruthi is getting serious for a bit. Unless you live under a rock, you will have seen the red and pink equals sign popping up as peoples profile picture all over Facebook. If noone has explained it to you, this picture shows that the bearer supports marriage equality for all sexualities. It relates to an American vote happening soon about if gay people should be allowed to legally marry, but I know it’s certainly hit home here in the UK too since at the moment our own Prime Minister is taking some backlash over his support of gay marriage (about the only good thing he’s done with his time in parliament!).

I haven’t seen a yarn world response to this, although I know it must be out there. Which is why, this Easter, I present to you the Marriage Equality Bunnies:

Just like any other bunnies in love…

… especially when you turn them round.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m straight (my gay friends laugh at me about how straight I am even!) but I know a lot of people affected by this, which is why I’m showing my support. I wish everyone with the power to make these decisions was as accepting as my Dad. My Dad is a Yorkshire man, and a lapsed Christian, which means that he is stubborn, he has a tendency to make off colour jokes, he is friendly as hell, I’m pretty sure believes in God at least a little, and the rest of the world thinks that he should be the last person for gay rights. Stereotypes often hit the Yorkshire man hard. The reason I say I wish everyone were as accepting as him is best illustrated with a story. When I was really little, we’re talking under ten here, I once asked him “Dad, would you be happy if I married someone who was a different colour?”. A teacher had challenged us to ask our parents this after we’d been talking about racism in school. There’s a link, I promise. He turned round to me, and he said, in more or less these exact words, “As long as they don’t hurt you, and as long as you love them, I don’t care what colour, job or anything he is, or even if he’s a woman. ” Because of that, I’ve know I could grow up to marry whoever the heck I liked*. This is also the man who, even though he didn’t really understand what was going on, and even though he wasn’t sure he liked the idea, and even though for the past five years he’d known her as a girl, casually called my female to male transgender friend ‘son’ as if it were no big deal (considering that the friend in question was having a hard time with coming out as a man, this meant the world to him).

If my Dad ran the world, everyone would be happy.

*Although after a bit of thought, he did add “Unless he’s someone like the idiot across the road” to the heart warming story above. And even then I get the feeling that I could still marry him, but Dad and my million uncles would drag him out the car park at the reception and threaten him to within an inch of his life, just to make sure he towed the line. I love my Dad.

Anyway, politics and gooeyness aside, make your own bunny couple, share them with the world and stand up for what is right. Free pattern after the jump.

The Essentials:

Hook: 3.5mm

Wool: Any DK for the bodies, but you need bright red and pale pink DK for the jumper.

Extra: Safety eyes (6mm shown, 8mm to 10mm recommended); coloured felt (optional).

Finished Size: approx 4″-5” tall

Terms:

CH = Chain

SC = Single Crochet

INC = Increase

DEC = Decrease

I’ll write the patterns as if it’s for one bunny – to complete a couple, make two of everything (four of some things.)

Head (x1 per bunny)

In your chosen colour, Ch2/ magic circle

Round 1: 6sc into 2^nd ch from hook/ centre of magic circle [6]
Round 2: INC around [12]
Round 3: {1sc, INC} repeat around [18]
Round 4: {2sc, INC} repeat around [24]
Round 5: {3sc, INC} repeat around [30]
Round 6: {4sc, INC} repeat around [36]
round 7 – 10: Sc around [36]
Round 11: {4sc, DEC} repeat around [30]
Round 12: {3sc, DEC} repeat around [24]
Round 13: {2sc, DEC} repeat around [18]
Round 14: {1sc, DEC} repeat around [12]

Stuff, and finish off leaving a long tail for sewing. Leave the hole at the bottom open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add your safety eyes. I’ve put a circle of felt behind them as my eyes (6mm) looked a little small. Bigger eyes (say 8mm or 10mm) would probably look better without.

Body (x1 per bunny)

In your chosen colour, Ch2/ magic circle

Round 1: 6sc into 2^nd ch from hook/ centre of magic circle [6]
Round 2: INC around [12]
Round 3: {1sc, INC} repeat around [18]
Round 4: {2sc, INC} repeat around [24]
Round 5 – 8: Sc around [24]
Round 9: {2sc, DEC} repeat around [18]
Round 10: {1sc, DEC} repeat around [12]

Stuff

Round 11: DEC around [6]

Finish off and weave in the tail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feet (x2 per bunny)

Ch7 in your chosen colour.

Round 1: Sc around the chain [12]
Round 2: {1sc, INC} repeat around [18]
Round 3: {2sc, INC} repeat around [24]
Round 4 – 5: Sc around [24]
Round 6: {2sc, DEC} around [18]
Round 7: {1sc, DEC} around [12]

Stuff. Finish off leaving a long tail for sewing. Whip stitch the hole close in line with the original chain to give you a 3D oval shape as below. Leave a long tail for sewing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arm (x1 per bunny)

In your chosen colour, Ch2/ magic circle

Round 1: 6sc into 2^nd ch from hook/ centre of magic circle [6]
Round 2: INC around [12]
Round 3 – 4: Sc around [12]

Stuff

Round 5: DEC around [6]

Finish off, leaving a long tail for sewing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ears (x2 per bunny)

In your chosen colour, Ch2/ magic circle

Round 1: 6sc into 2^nd ch from hook/ centre of magic circle [6]
Round 2: INC around [12]
Round 3 – 12: Sc around [12]
Round 5: DEC around [6]

Finish off and flatten, leaving a long tail for sewing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So far, you should have a lot of bunny bits:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I decided at this point that I wanted my bunnies to be multicoloured, so I swapped my bits around until I had this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But make your bunny bits however you like – all one colour, each bit a different colour – just like in love, anything goes!

Jumper/sweater (x1 per bunny)

In red CH13

Row 1-34: Sc along the row, starting in second chain from hook [12] Ch1 to turn EXPECT after row 34.

Finish off, leaving a long tail for sewing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m not good at flat work so I couldn’t for the life in me work out how to crochet the pink stripe into the read, so I made it seperately. If you can work out how to do it, it needs confining the the lower third of the piece, and will flip for the second jumper (you’ll see what I mean below).

Stripe (x2 per bunny)

In pale pink CH9

Row 1: Sc along the row, starting in second chain from hook [8].

Finish off, leaving a long tail for sewing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m sure there’s a way to work it into the red, but this is the way we’ll go for now!

Making up the bunnies.

You need to sew your stripes so that one end is against a short edge of the red strip. This will be the opposite end for each bunny, as shown below:

This is so that the equals sign runs across both bunnies when they’re put together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make sure to keep the stripes as low as possible, because the neck line rolls over.

Phew! Lotsa crochet there. Lets make these bits look like bunnies!

First, sew your ears to your heads, and your heads to your bodies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next you need to make up your jumper.

Firstly, check it wraps around your bunny. Then, using the tail of yearn, sew the short sides together to make a cylinder. Pop in your bunny, and roll the top over twice to create the neckline.

1: bunny loaded…

…2: fold down once…

…3. Roll down twice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make sure your bunny backs line up to create the equals sign.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this point I recommend sewing your bunnies together by the jumpers.

Next sew on the feet. It’s a bit of a squash, but you’ll manage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sew the hands on too as shown.

And you should now have your bunnies! I haven’t given my bunnies tails, because I think they’d be under the jumpers, but if you want to add a tail, I’d recommend a little pompom on each bunny butt.

Sew on a couple of noses to finish. I didn’t give mine mouths because they looked weird when I did, but if you want to then go for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marriage Equality Bunnies done! Go forth, share on Facebook, and as always send me a photo to amiguruthi[at]hotmail[dot]co[dot]uk.

Happy Easter to all, and I wish everyone out there love, health and oodles of chocolate.

Apologies for the dodgy text to photo layout this week – WordPress is being difficult!